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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Turn a Corner, Turn a Heel

One my major deadlines passed this week, and I think I felt
my blood pressure drop by a few points. Whew!

This week I made more progress on the red sock I’ve been
knitting. I finished the heel flap, which is an eye-of-partridge stitch with a
garter stitch edge. I turned the heel, and started the gusset decrease.

In the midst of all of the reading I’ve had to do lately,
I’ve begun either walking on the treadmill or knitting while I read. Yes, it
slows me down a little as far as each of those activities, but I feel better
physically afterward. Every little bit helps! (And, no, I don’t attempt to
walk, knit, and read together. I have my limits.)

Some people are surprised when they hear about those of us
who do things like read while we knit. I should clarify that I only do other
things while I’m making simpler knitting projects. The portion of the sock that I’m
knitting now is stockinette stitch across the sole, which is about two-thirds of
the stitches in a round. I can knit those stitches by feel. The remaining
one-third of the stitches across the instep are either [K1, P1] or [K3, P1]
repeating. Those patterns are simple enough that I can fall into a rhythm
rather than concentrate on counting. As I said, I knit more slowly but it’s
still progress. I like to keep my hands busy even if I’m reading, so it’s a
sanity-saver!

On a different note, our family took a break together over
the weekend to visit an old friend who was in town competing in an outdoor
sporting event. There was a railroad track next to the venue, and while we were
there a train rolled through. It stopped after it was partway past, with this
train car closest to us:

How did it know we were escaping reality at that moment?
Sometimes we find artistic beauty, and sometimes it finds us.